The Sony XPeria Z1: First Impressions

Which phone do you favour? I’ve been an iPhone girl for the last seven years and before that my work-sanctioned phone was a Blackberry. I loved that black chunky thing with a rollerball that frustratingly always stuck under my thumb: in 2010 BBM seemed like the most technologically forward way to communicate and despite its terrible camera I was really sad to wave it goodbye in favour of an iPhone 4.

But with the dawn of Instagram and my love of a larger screen I soon got over my loss and thoroughly embraced the world of the iPhone. Back in 2013 I got frustrated with the iPhone’s terrible battery life, seriously considering switching to a Samsung note at upgrade time, but pushed through it and remained faithful to Apple to this day with my current model, an iPhone X.

I’ve never lost my intrigue in Androids, though. When you’re on an iPhone I feel like there’s a lot less flexibility with the apps you can download, and those who use the Android platform always loudly sing its praises. So when I was offered the chance to review a Sony XPeria Z1 phone I snapped it up.

Could an iPhone fan go Android?

My first impressions of the Sony XPeria Z1 were purely based on aesthetics and feel. At 170g the phone is almost exactly the same weight as the iPhone (174g), with the screen being similar also (5″ verses the iPhone’s 5.8). The display on the Sony XPeria Z1 is a TFT capacitive touchscreen, which to my un-technological eye doesn’t look too different to the iPhone’s OLED.

The Sony feels like it has sharp edges when compared to the curved edges I’m used to and is a very smart-looking phone. The side buttons are easy to touch and the fingerprint sensor works every time.

So far, so good!

As a long-time Google user the interface felt really intuitive and I was set up within minutes. I managed to download all my favourite apps really easily and I absolutely loved the option to search Google (mostly ‘Meghan Markle, let’s be honest) from within the home screen itself.

I haven’t done a deep dive into the phone yet but there are some touches that I really like so far. How easy it is to message people, for one, and the really instinctive way I navigate around the phone. It’s not just me who’s finding that bit a breeze, either: within a minute of getting their hands on the Sony XPeria Z1 both children had managed to locate YouTube and navigate to Spider-Man clips (they can sniff new technology a mile off).

Eclipsing all that for me though is the camera. It’s AMAZING and has some absolutely incredible features that i was lucky enough to be given the low-down on by Chris from Sony this week.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to talk through them once I’ve snapped a million images of my children/Christmas tree/daily outfits. You lucky ducks.

OH! And one last thing! The battery life: my record so far is three days. Anyone with an iPhone can feel free to worship at this alter of unheard of battery juice right now ;)

If you’r an Android user I’d love to hear which features I should be exploring!